


Possibility

by clearascountryair



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8627509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clearascountryair/pseuds/clearascountryair
Summary: “Hi, Jemma.  Um, good morning, I guess?  I was trying to wait up for you last night, but I must have dozed off.  You could have woken me.  Not-not that you should have or that I’m mad you didn’t.  Just, um, you could have.  I didn’t know what time you got to bed, though, so I didn’t want to wake you this morning.  You looked peaceful, though.  Just in a ‘I didn’t get fired today’ kind of way.  And since I love you and love working with you, that’s, um, that’s a good thing.  Ah, crap, I’m rambling now.  Well, I love you, I’ll see you later, and hopefully we can get Friday off and go take some measurements.  I saw a bed frame online you might like.  Anyway, rambling.  Love you.”[post 4x06]





	

**Author's Note:**

> TFSN Coda Challenge for 4x06  
> There are ~aspects~ of this that I would not like to see in the show. But...
> 
> Shout out to Casey for being my hero
> 
>  
> 
> **Sorry if you read this and it just ended. AO3 decided to cut out 90% of the story...It's all there now**

They had been driving for what felt like hours when the car suddenly stopped and a breeze told her the back door had been opened.

“Are we there?” she snapped through the cloth of the bag, feeling carsick for the first time in her life.

The agent who had opened the door pulled the bag off her head.  “My apologies, Agent Simmons.  Just at a rest stop and then returned to base.”

Jemma tilted her head to the side.  “Returning to base?”

“Yes, ma’am.  Director Mace just called and demanded we return immediately.”  He tossed the bag onto the floor of the car.  “This won’t be necessary anymore.  We’re just stopping here for a moment--are you alright, Agent Simmons?”

Jemma breathed in deeply through her nose, pressing her fingers to her mouth and shook her head.

“Agent Simmons?”

“Oh, you try being blindfolded and drive around for hours!”

He apologized and turned away.  Immediately, Jemma unfastened her belt, grabbed her bag, and bolted for the ladies’ room.  A million thoughts swam through her mind as she tried to process what was going on.

Where were they going?  
Why was she needed?  
Why was she blindfolded?  
Why were they turning back?

_I’m going to be sick._

As soon as she was in the bathroom, she knelt before the toilet and emptied the contents of her stomach.  Wiping her mouth, she leaned against the wall and pulled out her phone.

_**Fitz  
** Message (13) _

_**Fitz  
** Voicemail (10)  & Missed Call (15)_

“Fuck!” she hissed, though at the same time, could help but release a little sigh of relief.  If he was calling her, he was worried.  And if he was worried, maybe the fighting would end.

_“Hi, Jemma.  Um, good morning, I guess?  I was trying to wait up for you last night, but I must have dozed off.  You could have woken me.  Not-not that you should have or that I’m mad you didn’t.  Just, um, you could have.  I didn’t know what time you got to bed, though, so I didn’t want to wake you this morning.  You looked peaceful, though.  Just in a ‘I didn’t get fired today’ kind of way.  And since I love you and love working with you, that’s, um, that’s a good thing.  Ah, crap, I’m rambling now.  Well, I love you, I’ll see you later, and hopefully we can get Friday off and go take some measurements.  I saw a bed frame online you might like.  Anyway, rambling.  Love you.”_

“ _Hey.  Sorry to have missed you.  I just...I’m sorry.  I’d have said that again if I had seen you last night or this morning.  And I’ll keep saying it again and again, even once you stop being mad at me.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it all over again, just...the goal was to keep you safe.  Because I love you.  I’ll see you tonight.”_

_“So you’re not answering my texts, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you heard my voicemail.  I know it’s silly, but I really, really hate you being mad at me.  Even if I deserve it--which I might, but not this much.  Jemma, I don’t know what else to do.  I’ll resort to seducing you via voicemail if I have to” “Turbo, what the fuck, man?” “Or not, since apparently Mack’s in the room.  I’m just gonna hang up now.”_

_“I can’t tell if I miss you or if I’m just horny...okay, yeah, that was a terrible joke, but at least Mack’s not in the room...God, Jemma, I’m not gonna lie, I’m starting to get worried.  Either I messed up even worse than I thought or...well, let just say I messed up worse than I thought.  Please call me back. Or send a text.  I’ll take a bloody emoji.  Just...call me.”_

_“Real quick: what are your thoughts on yellow curtains?  Not an obnoxious yellow, just bright.  Also, don’t say anything to my mum about the apartment yet, unless you want handknit everything.  Bye.”_

_“There aren’t yellow curtains, Jemma.  I just need an excuse to see if you would be an adult and answer your damn phone.  Jesus fucking Christ, Simmons, it’s been hours and I’m genuinely worried and even if you haven’t listened to a damn thing, I know you’ve seen the notification.  And this is my sixth fucking voicemail and god knows how many texts and even if you haven’t read a single word, you can’t see this many notifications and not think ‘Hmm...maybe Fitz is worried and I should acknowledge his existence.’  I don’t care how pissed off you are, you’re an adult and I thought the silent treatment was below you.”_

_“Ahhh, shit.  I’m...I’m sorry, Jemma.  I just...things are fairly shitty, as usual, and nobody’s seen you.  Nobody.  And, um, I think you might be able to take a guess as to why I might be particularly sensitive to this situation.  Can’t even make a joke of it, can I?  Just call me.  Please.  I love you.”_

_“Hey, Jemma.  It’s me again.  Fitz.  Your boyfriend.  The person responsible for your orgasms.  So it’s in your best interest to call me back.”_

_“Alright, I can’t even joke anymore.  Do you know how much it takes for me not to be able to even try to joke? Dammit, Jemma, where the hell are you?  I’m trying really hard not to panic right now, but it’s been all day and I can’t… I don’t want to imagine anything other than you’re really mad at me.  I don’t want you to be mad at me, obviously, but just, please, please,_ please _, call me back.  I love you.  I love you more than anything in the world.”_

_“What do you want me to do, Jemma?  Smash AIDA to pieces?  Because I will, you know I will.  I can barely keep calm anymore.  I will do anything to make you call me.  Anything.  We can get a dog.  Two dogs.  I’ll quit SHIELD so I can stay home and take care of them.  I’ll cook.  Every night for the rest of our lives.  I’ll wake up early every day so I have time to get you off before work every day because you deserve it.  I’ll...Jemma, please, it’s been a long time since I was this worried about you.  Do you need to hear me say I’m scared, because I will.  I’m so fucking afraid, Jemma.  With these fucking ghosts and Daisy’s literally flaming guy, I just...I need to know you’re okay.  I need to know that you’re okay and alive and on this planet.  Please, Jemma.  Please.  I love you so much.  You know that, right?  I love you.  I love you and I will keep loving you, even if this is the silent treatment.  But it’s not, I know it’s not.  And I love you too much.  I can’t...I can’t not know you’re okay.  I’ve been snapping at everyone and I think I’m gonna completely lose it if I don’t hear from you.  I’m not trying to be one of those possessive creeps, you know that.  I’m just...last time I couldn’t find you, it took me six months.  I can’t...I need you to not be hurt, Jemma.  Call me selfish, if you want, but I need you to not be hurt.”_

  
She banged her head against the wall and quickly glanced over her texts.  All variations of “Call me,” “Where are you?” and “I love you.”  Immediately, she called him back.

_“You’ve reached Dr. Leo Fitz.  Leave your name and number, and I’ll call you back at my earliest convenience.”_

“Fitz, oh my god!  I really hope you’re in the loo right now and not trying to pay me back.  I was supposed to be on some sort of bullshit secret mission from the director--he put a bag over my head, Fitz.   _A bag_.  But something must have happened, because apparently we’re coming back.  We’re at a rest stop now, though.  I’m carsick, would you believe that?”  She shut her eyes and breathed deeply.  “But I love you.  I love you so much and I’m so sorry to have worried you.  I’ll actually have my phone for the drive back.  Call me or text me or anything.  I don’t care, I just need you to know that I’m alright and I’m sorry and I love you and we’ll talk as soon as I’m back.”

Sighing, she put her phone in her bag and returned to the van.

“Ready, Agent Simmons?”

“Please.  As quickly as possible.”

As soon as the car began to move, she pulled her phone back out and typed out a quick text.

_Please listen to my voicemail.  I’m so sorry, I wasn’t allowed my phone.  I love you and I’m not angry at you and we’ll talk when I get home.  Just let me know you’re getting this.  I hate worrying you.  Love you._

She could feel the nausea quelling in her stomach, but ignored it, shutting her eyes, leaning against the door, and falling asleep.  It was nearly dark by the time they returned to the Playground and, when the same agent who had removed the bag from her head awkwardly woke her, all Jemma wanted was to find Fitz, drag him back to their room, and sleep in his arms until her stomach stopped churning.  Holding her head up and trying to look like she wasn’t about to be sick, Jemma stepped out of the van.

“Jemma!”

She turned to see Mack walking towards her and wasn’t sure if she was more surprised that he had called her by her first name, or that Daisy was with him, looking at terrible as Jemma felt with her eyes rimmed red.  

“Hi,” she started, and Daisy’s arms were immediately around her.

“Where have you been all day?” Mack demanded.

“It’s…” she shook her head.  “It’s rather an exhausting story. Nauseating too.  I think I’d just like to find Fitz.  I owe him an apology.”

Daisy dropped her arms as she and Mack exchanged a look.

“Jemma,” she said softly, and Jemma could feel the bile climbing up her throat.

“I’m sorry, I have to go find Fitz.”

Mack reached out and placed a hand on her arm.  “Why don’t we go sit and talk for a bit?”

Jemma sucked in a deep breath, looking back and forth between Mack and Daisy and feeling the nausea churn her stomach and, for a moment, their faces swam before her.  And then she gasped and they stilled and she heard her own voice say, “I think I’m about to be sick.”

Her face must have shown how sick she felt, because Daisy grabbed her arm and immediately began to guide her to the nearest bathroom.

“It’s okay,” Daisy whispered, kneeling behind her with one arm around her waist and the other holding back her hair.  “I’m here.”

The door to the bathroom opened and before Jemma could say a word, she found herself retching into the toilet.  

“Go,” she heard Mack whisper, “May wants you.”  And before she could even register that Daisy’s arms had left, she became aware of Mack’s hand on her arm, rubbing gently.  

When Jemma finished, she reached blindly for the toilet paper and, after wiping her mouth, whispered, “Where’s Fitz?”

Gently, Mack wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back until she was fully leaning against him.

“I don’t know.”

Jemma let out a shaky breath.   _I don’t know_.  Honestly, with their job, that wasn’t the worst that could happen.  “Well,” she said, “Where was he last?  Who was he with?”

“He was with us,” Mack said in an unsteady voice.  “He and Coulson and Reyes.  They were inside.  And then they were just gone.”

“What happened?”

“We were at an old Roxxon facility,” he began, and she sunk against him, listening as he spoke.

She listened as words that made perfect sense, yet no sense at all came trembling from his mouth, suffocating her.  And, when he finally finished, still holding her in his arms like a child, all she could say was, “Where’s Fitz, Mack?

He shook his head.  “I’m sorry, Simmons.  I wish I could give you a better answer.  I wish _I_ had a better answer.”

“Where’s Fitz?”

“He disappeared, Simmons.  He just vanished.”

“People don’t just disappear!”

“It’s the only answer I have.”

“ _Well, it’s not good enough!_ ”  She took a deep breath and made to stand up.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to be in the lab.  I have to bring him back,” she said, her voice reaching a dangerously high pitch.

“Simmons--” he reached up for her.

“No!  I’m the smartest person here.  I have to bring him back!”

“You can take a minute,” Mack said, standing and looking down towards her.

“I will _not_ waste his time.”

“Jemma!”  He put a hand on each of her arms, steadying her shaking and forcing her to silence.  “You’re allowed to take a minute.”  She shook her head and he pulled her close.  “You won’t do him any favors by bottling it all up and not thinking straight.  You’re allowed to cry.”

She swallowed and shook her head.  “I have to get him back.”

“I know.  And we will.  But five minutes.  I think he’d let you have five minutes to freak out.  And then we’ll get him back.”

She nodded for a moment, tears welling in her eyes, as she waited for him to leave.  But his arms stayed firmly around her, his hands rubbing small circles into her back.  She shook her head.

“You don’t need to,” she said.  

“I don’t need to what?”

“Stay.  You don’t need to care just because he does.”

Mack hands froze on her back.  “What?”

She took a deep breath.  “I’ve tried,” she said, her voice breaking.  “I’ve done everything I can.  I just want him to be happy.”

“Jemma.”  Briefly, Mack’s arms tightened around her before loosening enough for him to look at her.  “You don’t have to do anything, Jemma. _I_ was wrong.  I made assumptions based on half the facts.  If you think, for even a moment, that I only care about you because you’re dating Fitz...Jesus Christ, Jemma.  You are the kindest, most selfless person I have _ever_ met.  And we’re gonna bring back Fitz together and I will still be here at the end.”

And, so, leaning back into him, she broke.  She wrapped her arms around her, fingers clutching the back of his shirt, and cried until she couldn’t breathe.  Still, she held him, and when she found her voice, she whispered, “How much time do I have?”

To her surprise, Mack laughed.  “I didn’t fucking time you.”

Somehow, she managed to smile.  But then, she remembered the last several minutes, and knew her time would be best spent in the lab.

* * *

“Has she slept at all?”

“Not at all.  Hasn’t eaten either.  I offered to make pancakes--”

“Pancakes?”

“They’re her stress food.  But she won’t eat anything.”

“Shit."

Jemma slammed her hand down on her desk.  “I can hear you, you know!”

Mack fell silent, but Daisy only put her hands on her hips.  “Good.  You’re not taking care of yourself!”

Jemma rolled her eyes.  “Oh, like you’re one to talk about taking care of yourself!  You couldn’t even be troubled to see a bloody doctor after getting _shot_.”

Daisy opened her mouth to respond, but shut it as Mack put a hand on her wrist.  “We’re worried about you, Simmons.  How pissed will Fitz be when we bring him back and tell him you worked yourself to death?”

“I’m fine.”

Mack crossed his arms.  “Last I checked, you could barely stand!  It’s been twenty-four hours.  You need to eat and you need to sleep.”

“ _I’m fine!_ ” Jemma snapped, pushing herself up from her chair.

Too fast.

She blinked as Mack and Daisy swam before her, black rings slowly encompassing her vision.

“Jem, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she whispered, seeing Mack step forward in the brief moment before darkness consumed her vision.

 

She woke up in a room that must be Mack’s, though she realized she had never been in there before.  Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her head.

“Hey.”  Mack’s voice was soft and sympathetic.  “We, um, decided it would be best to bring you here.  Daisy thought it might not be too good if May saw you.”

“Thanks.”

“She insisted on running a blood test, though.”

Jemma sighed.  “I’ll take care of it later.”

Mack laughed.  “Nice try, but she’s already off getting the results.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “Great.  So now instead of of just me losing time, I’m wasting yours and Daisy’s, too.  Fitz and Coulson and Robbie don’t have time!”

It was Mack’s turn to sigh as he walked over to the bed, sitting down next to her and putting a hand on her knee.  “It’s not wasting time, Jemma.  I already told you bottling it up isn’t good, but neither is being unconscious.”  He gave her knee a squeeze.  “Look--just promise me that when Daisy comes back and your tests say ‘Dammit, Jemma, you need to eat and sleep,” you’ll listen, okay?”

She managed to nod before the door creaked open.  Mack looked up.

“You figure out what’s wrong with our girl, Tremors?”

It was only when Daisy didn’t respond that Jemma looked up.  She stood in the door, holding a piece of paper--Jemma’s blood test, presumably--in front of her, her lips slightly parted.  Then she smiled, obviously forced as it was.

“Not to be a bitch in your own room,” she said to Mack, “but could we have a minute?”

If Mack found the request odd, which he certainly did, he hid it well and stood.  “Yeah,” he said.  “I’ll be in the hall.”  He gave Daisy a quizzical look as he passed, but that was all.

As though the tension in the room might explode if she stepped too heavily, Daisy made her way across the room and sat down next to Jemma, who tried to smile.

“This seems far too serious for telling me I haven’t eaten all day.”

“Jem…”

“ _Fitz is missing, Daisy_ ,” she half shrieked, her voice breaking as she fell forward against Daisy’s chest, relishing for a moment in the comfort of her friend’s embrace.  “My day really can’t get any worse.”

Daisy nodded, wrapping her arms around her.  “When, um, when was your last period?”

Jemma shut her eyes, too distraught to even be perplexed.  “I don’t remember, I’ve been so stressed.”  She let out a tearful laugh.  “Don’t go getting a big head, but I don’t think I’ve been regular since you left.”

Daisy squeezed her tight and, for several minutes, said nothing.  And then, just went Jemma felt herself on the verge of screaming for answers, she pulled away and, hand shaking, pressed the paper into Jemma’s hands.  

“There were,” she began as Jemma starting skimming the page.  “There, um, there was, um, notable hCG in your bloodstream.”

It took a moment for Daisy’s words to register in her mind, finally clicking as her eyes found the words on the paper.

All at once, she froze.  Her blood and her lungs, her heart and her muscles and her flesh and anything else that could not possibly be inside her.  Everything froze to stone.

And it shattered.  Cracking through every fiber and expelling a sound too horrible and too anguished for any human to make, she broke.

Sometime later, when she had stopped being who she used to be and became someone else, Jemma spoke, her voice raw and near unrecognizable.  “I can’t...I can’t do this alone.”

She could feel Daisy swallow her own tears as she kissed the top of her head.  “Don’t be stupid.  You know we’d never let you do anything alone.”

Jemma pulled back.  “So you’ll stay?” she asked, her tone already bitter with the answer she knew she’d get.

Daisy shook her head.  “You have so many people who love you, Jemma.”

“You’re my best friend.”

“And I’ll always be there when you need me.”

“I need you _now_ , Daisy.  I always need you.”

“I’m dangerous, Jem.”

“You’re an idiot!”

“Jemma, if I leave you guys to keep you safe--”

“Don’t you dare.”

“--What the hell make you think I would stick around just because there’s something totally innocent for me to fuck up?”

“No!”

Daisy froze, her words dying on her lips as she looked at Jemma’s face, tears still falling steadily, but grief and fear melting slowly into rage.

“Don’t you dare,” Jemma repeated.  “You do not get to punish my child for the crimes you think you’ve committed.”

Daisy swallowed, her eyes darting around the room in a desperate attempt to hold Jemma’s gaze.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore.”

“Then stay.”  Jemma tried her best to smile.  “For me.  At least consider it.”

Slowly, Daisy nodded.  “I, um, I won’t say anything.  Not yet, anyway.  I’m sure there’s all sorts of lab protocol about it and I think Mack and May would probably banish you to your room.”

Jemma bit down on her lower.  “You want me back in the lab?”

Daisy shrugged.  “It’ll get them back.  And I don’t think I could stop you.”  She stood up.  “We’ll get him back, Jemma.  You’ve survived universes.”

When she held out her hand, Jemma took it and, trying to steady her breathing, told herself that things were not okay.

But she would make them so.

 

It seemed like a horrible thing to push to the back of her mind, as though she had failed motherhood already, but it was all she could do to stand.  So focused all the attention she could muster on running every test she could possibly run, if only it could bring Fitz back.  

She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply.  

“What now?”

She turned to Daisy.  “What?”

“We finished your list.  What now?”

“Oh.”  She looked around the room, as though she had missed some crucial test that could help her bring Fitz back.  But, though it rose every hair on her neck to admit it even to herself, there was nothing.  “We wait, I suppose.  For the results.”  She looked back and forth between Daisy and Mack, hoping one of them could provide her with a distraction.  

Daisy flashed her a gentle smile.  “Do you want to talk?”

Jemma shook her head.  “No.  Yes.  About anything else.”  She sighed.  “Please.”

Daisy turned to Mack and grinned mischievously.  “Why’s Elena mad at you?”

Jemma exhaled and, squeezing her hands together, forced herself to play along.  “Elena’s mad at you?”

Mack glared.  “That is not either of your business.”

Daisy rolled her eyes.  “Seriously?  Please!  We could use some relationship drama that was…”  She trailed off and looked at Jemma.

“Earthly?”

“Close enough.  Come _on_ , Mack.  We’ve got ten minutes to pass, and I hear Simmons makes a great relationship guru.”

Jemma laughed.  “Not really.”

“Jesus Christ, Jem, just play along.”

“Right.  Sorry.  Why’s Elena mad at you?”

“You aren’t going to stop, are you?”

“No,” they said in unison.

Mack cursed under his breath.  “She’s mad at me because I’m mad at her.  It’s a very exciting answer.”

“Why are you mad at her?”  Jemma asked, and Mack only stared at her, one eyebrow raised.

“Oh.”  Daisy shifted uncomfortably in her seat.  “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”

“It’s because she lied.  I told her there shouldn’t be secrets between us.”

To Jemma’s surprise, Daisy snorted.  “Let me guess: then she got pissed because that’s a damn long list of things that aren’t between you.”

Mack stared at her.

“What?  Vigilante fugitives still need girl talk.”  Daisy shrugged.  “Can I be frank?  Buddy to buddy?”

Mack sighed.  “I think you’ve distracted Jemma enough.”

Jemma shook her head, feeling herself breathe again as she savored in the drama of a relationship that was not her own, that was not life and death.  “No, you’re doing wonderfully.”

Daisy walked over to Jemma and sat on her desk, staring back at Mack.  “You’re kind of a tease.”

Mack opened his mouth, affronted, as Jemma snorted into her tea.  “What the fuck, Tremors?”

“No, I’m serious.  I mean, she won’t say so, but I’m, like, ninety-nine percent sure she’s too into you to see anyone else.  But you asked her out once and then never did again.  You’ve got her tied up in the _hope_ of a relationship.”

Mack rolled his eyes.  “If she wants to talk to me, she can talk to me.  We don’t need a middleman.  Anyway, it’s more complicated than that.”

Daisy turned to Jemma.  “Guru?  Any advice?”

Jemma thought for a moment, and then smiled.  “Add clothes.”

Mack raised an eyebrow.  “What?”

“Add clothes.  To the list of things that aren’t between you.”

There was a moment of silence before Daisy let out a howl of laughter and slid off the desk to the floor.  Mack blinked twice, before balling up a piece of paper and throwing it at her.

“Shit, Simmons, get your mind out of the gutter.”  But he, too, joined Daisy in her laughter and, for a moment, Jemma wondered if they had forgotten what they had been distracting her from.

She hoped so.

The door to the lab opened and May walked in.

“Wheels up in twenty,” she said.  “I expect you all in the hangar before that.”

* * *

She’s not sure how it happened.  And, in the end, neither is he.

It may have been all of her tests.  It may have been her and Mack fiddling with just the right wires at just the write time.  Or, perhaps, it was something _they_ couldn’t remember, something they had done wherever they had been.

But suddenly Daisy had her by the wrist and they were running and running and running _away_ and his name was falling from her lips in a mixture of utter terror and complete ecstasy.  

“No!” she hissed, her voice hoarse from screaming.

But Daisy only tightened her grip, dragging Jemma back into the Quinjet, as far from the containment modules as should could.  “We had a deal, Jemma.  He’s either back or he’s not, but you’re staying far away until everyone and everything has been through quarantine.”

“I _have_ to see--” her voice broke in a sob and Daisy stopped walking, wrapping her arms around her.

“I will tell you everything and anything.  But I let you fight to get him back and now you have to stay put and keep our baby safe.”

Jemma blinked.  “ _Our_?  Last I checked, you had nothing to do with this.”

Daisy shrugged.  “If I’m staying, I get partial credit.”  She kissed her cheek and was gone.

For several lifetimes, Jemma paced, tears streaming down her face as she waited for anything, _anything_ to tell her what had happened.

Twenty minutes later, her phone buzzed.

****_**Mack  
** iMessage_  
_They’re all in quarantine.  Awake ok confused.  Fitz fighting with Daisy about why you’re not here_

_**Mack**_  
_iMessage_  
_Why aren’t you here?_

Before she could begin typing out of a response, Fitz’s face flashed across her screen.

_“Jemma?”_

She let out a strangled sob.

_“Jemma, I’m here.  I’m okay.  I love you.  I love you so fucking much.  Jemma, where are you?”_

She squeezed her eyes shut as she sank down against the wall.  “I love you,” she heard herself whisper as all the other words fought to organize themselves within her mind.  “I love you I love you I love you.”

Fitz let out a choked sound. _“Where are you, Jemma?  Daisy said you weren’t allowed--”_

“I can’t.  I’m…” she trailed off. This wasn’t a conversation for the phone.  “How long are they keeping you in quarantine?”

_“24 hours.  As of...14 minutes ago.”_

Jemma nodded, catching her breath.  “Then I’ll see you in 23 hours and forty-six minutes.”

_“They won’t let you see me?”_

“No.  But I love you.  I love and I’m sorry and I love you.”

They continued on like that for sometime.  Listening to each other breathe through the phone, the stillness pierced with period whispers of “I love you,” until Fitz’s voice faded to mumbles and, at Jemma’s insistence, he hung up with a promise to sleep.  

 

When they made it back to the Playground, Jemma waited where she was until Daisy came to get her.

“You look like you could use some sleep.”

“I could use Fitz.”

Daisy rolled her eyes.  “Well, he’s still in quarantine.  But if you go shower and try to sleep, I promise I’ll wake you up so you guys can have a super sappy reunion when he gets out.”

Jemma nodded.  A shower did sound nice.

When she was clean and warm and buzzing with hope, she slipped into his sweatpants and his sweatshirt and curled up against his pillow, knowing that, soon, he would come back to her.

She awoke sometime later when an arm encircled her waist, a hand tangled in her hair, and lips peppered her face with kisses.

“You’re on my side of the bed.”

Her eyes shot open.  “Fitz!”  She grabbed his face, pulling him close and kissing him as though he might disappear at any moment.  They both let out a sound between a sob and a laugh as he settled over her, dropping down on top of her, the weight of him proof that _he was there_.

“Daisy was so supposed to wake me.”

“They cleared me early.  I wanted to surprise you.”

She let him wiggled her over to her own side of the bed and the both laid on their side, breathing heavily and simply staring at each other.

“I got your voicemails.”

“I got yours.”

She nodded, pressing her forehead against his.  “We need to be safe.”

He kissed her softly.  “There’s only so much we can do.”

She let herself melt against him.  “I realized something when you were gone.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know when I started loving you.”  She laughed.  “I mean, I know when I realized I loved you, but I think it started way before that.”

Fitz smiled against her.  “Why?”

“I never thought about my future before.  Getting married, having kids.  It all just seemed so ridiculous to me.   Especially because, well, I was always going to spend forever with you, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to get married.  But then, of course, I realized I could have all of that with you.  So I think that my not wanting that--not wanting marriage or children--might have just been my subconscious’ way of telling myself that I don’t want that with anyone but you.”

Fitz brought his hands up to cup her face, brushing away the tears running down her cheeks.  “Are you telling me, Jemma Simmons, that you want to marry me?”  And, even in the darkness, she could see his smile.

“I wanted everything,” she whispered.  And, then, even more quietly, “I’m pregnant.”

Hearing the words fall from her lips, she let out a gasp, which turned quickly into heaving sobs she feared she would never control.

“I’m pregnant,” she said again.  “I’m pregnant and you left me all alone.”

When she couldn’t cry anymore, she clutched his arms, holding him to her and reminding herself that he was hers and she was his.

“Please don’t ever leave me.”

“Jemma…” Her name floated in the darkness of their room as he kissed her until she believed that he would never be taken away from her again.  And then, without warning, he stopped.

“You’re pregnant?” he asked incredulously, as though registering her words for the first time.

She nodded.

“With a baby?”

She rolled her eyes.  “No, with an alien,” she said, and smiled as he kissed her again.

“We’re having a baby?”

“Yeah.”

He rolled onto his back, dragging her with him.

“I can’t lose you again,” she said, resting her cheek on his chest as his hand glided over her waist, periodically brushing her flat stomach.

“I know.”

They fell into silence, his story saved for another day.  At this moment, in their bed and each other's’ arms, it was all the could do to focus on the hope of possibility.  


End file.
